The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for imprinting indicia on an article and more particularly code indicia on an article which is to be applied to goods.
While the method and apparatus will be described with reference to coding closure tabs in a bakery packaging line, it will be appreciated that broader applications can be made without departing from the principles described herein.
Known coding systems used in relatively high speed production operations (100 items per minute) such as coding bakery goods or the like employ conventional type blocks containing the type characters which make up the desired indicia. The use of type blocks in existing coding systems results in two major disadvantages, namely, an unfavorable impact on both the cost and the efficiency of the operation. For example, in the bakery industry it is the general practice today to package the bakery products in a flexible bag made of plastic or the like and to close the bag mouth by capturing the same in an opening provided in a tab. The coding indicia is applied to the closure tab and generally consists of the unit price, last day of sale, recall code, etc. It is not unusual for single type blocks to contain up to thirty to forty characters which must continually be replaced to reflect price changes and other format changes dictated by the particular industry and/or government regulation. As a result of the foregoing, existing coding systems are characterized by high inventory costs for maintaining the necessary type and ink inventories as well as increased labor costs for constantly changing the code information. An additional and equally significant problem encountered when employing known coding systems is the unfavorable impact the use of conventional type blocks has on the efficiency of the operation. In order to make the necessary coding changes during production runs the entire system must be shut down for a significant amount of time resulting in decreased production. Thus, it would be highly desirable to produce a method and apparatus for imprinting code indicia on articles which eliminates the necessity of maintaining costly type and ink inventories and which allows for easy and rapid coding changes without a costly loss of production time and thereby fulfill a long-felt need in the coding industry.
Accordingly, it is the principal object of the present invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for imprinting indicia on an article which eliminates the necessity of employing conventional type blocks.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for coding articles which is fully automatic in nature.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for coding articles which employs a thermal or electrostatic print element.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for coding a closure member which is applied to goods.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will appear hereinbelow.